By Allen Myers
How much did you contribute, as pure gift, to business last year? The exact answer depends on where you live, but wherever you live, it was a substantial amount.
You don't remember a business person, dressed in rags, knocking on your door and pleading for any spare change? That's because economically deprived capitalists have charitable agencies that collect for them: they're called "governments". And governments, unlike the Salvos, don't have to ask for your contribution; they just take it.
This situation means that they also don't have to tell you how much they take. So we should be grateful to the federal government for letting us have a little bit of a look at how much we contribute to business.
In 1996, the government's Productivity Commission conducted a study entitled "State, Territory and Local Government Assistance to Industry". In late February, the commission — whose rule on productivity seems to be "Do as I say, not as I do" — got around to issuing a press release and "overview" to some commercial media. Finally, a few weeks ago, those two items made it to the commission's web page.
The overview, while far from exhaustive, contains enough to make it plain that business has reason to be grateful to us all.
In 1994-95, according to the study, direct budget outlays to business by the states and territories averaged $137 per person. Further charity in the form of exemptions from payroll tax averaged $176 per person, for a total national average of $313 per person.
That means that, on average, each of us gives $6 a week to the business charity run by our state or territory government.
The lowest total figure was for Queensland ($241, less than $5 per person per week) and the highest for the Northern Territory ($596, more than $11 each per week).
Local government also tried to do its part, but doesn't really have the fundraising ability of the states. According to the study's 1996 survey, it contributed only $220 million to business, an average of only $12 per person per year across the country.
The commission was investigating only local and state handouts to business, not federal, but it did provide a figure on federal assistance for comparison. The study estimated that federal gifts to business in 1994-95 were worth $9.9 billion. (Wasn't $10 billion the size of the "black hole" the Coalition claimed it found in government finances when it came to office in March 1996?)
Federally operated business charities were thus larger than those of the states, giving away around $10.50 a week from each of us.
Together, the three layers of charity gave business a total of $872 from every person in Australia in 1994-95 — an average of nearly $17 per person per week. (But please note: these charitable donations are not tax deductible.)
Probably, $17 a week doesn't seem nearly enough to many people, particularly at a time when the value of those dollars is falling. And in fact, it isn't enough. That's why government charities give considerably more on our behalf.
The only problem is that we don't know how much more. The study overview notes: "Not all forms of assistance have been measured. In particular, data on revenue forgone at the State and local government level are generally unavailable, as is the extent of any assistance from underpricing of government-owned natural resources and infrastructure."
So we can be confident that, thanks to our generosity, no capitalist will go to bed hungry or sleep on the streets tonight. Makes you feel all warm inside, doesn't it?